Lisa and I met on a forum. I posted about some oddity we were experiencing and Lisa contacted me offline with some suggestions. I remember hitting it off with her immediately. We were like-minded. I was comfortable sharing every last detail of how we managed diabetes with no fear of being judged.
Comfort + acceptance = great friendship.
Lisa has a daughter, Lilly who is a year older than Caleb and was diagnosed about a year after Caleb. At the time of our meeting she was an Omnipodder and Dexcommer (she still is). Caleb was five and was Podding but hadn't yet started Dexcomming.
Caleb and Lilly got to know each other through a whole series of videos. They recorded themselves just chatting and sharing about their lives. Although there were descriptions which included diabetes in their introduction videos, there was little to no talk about it beyond that. Here's one of Caleb's videos to Lilly. Not a word about D. (He's such a youngin' in this video, I hardly recognize him!)
Caleb and Lilly still keep in touch. They have graduated to email. Caleb gets very excited to hear he has a new message from Lilly. I don't think they ever chat about diabetes. Because they live on opposite sides of the country, they've never actually met, but they are still good friends. Even though they don't talk about it, I believe Caleb feels a special connection with Lilly because how of they are alike. They understand each other that way with no need to discuss it.
Lisa helped us through our DexCom transition. I was reluctant about starting. Lisa gave me a real, down and dirty overview of what it was like, then what to expect when we started, then answered any and all questions I had after that. She was my go-to-girl. She still is - for anything D related (and some things non D related). If there's something I need advice on or just a sanity check, I go to Lisa. She's always there for me.
Here's one of the many tips Lisa gave me (it's not all that earth-shattering, but at the time I hadn't considered it and it was a godsend to us): frozen yogurt. Ice cream in any form makes for bonkers numbers for Caleb. He still has occasion to eat it, but froyo is a miracle. Just bolus and be on your merry way.
Thank you Lilly and Lisa! You are such good friends to Caleb and me. Thank you for always being there for us. I hope you know we are always here for you! Always.
This post is part of January's Friend Parade. Also in this series: